Residents in a southern Chinese city mourn 35 people killed in a car-ramming attack

People in a southern Chinese city were paying respects Wednesday to 35 of its residents killed by a driver who rammed his vehicle into a sports complex, mowing down people as they were exercising.

People in a southern Chinese city were paying respects Wednesday to 35 of its residents killed by a driver who rammed his vehicle into a sports complex, mowing down people as they were exercising.

Police have offered little information about the 62-year-old attacker beyond saying the man, identified only by his surname of Fan, was upset about his divorce settlement. He was arrested immediately after the assault as he tried to flee the scene in the city of Zhuhai on Monday night.

The attack, which also severely injured 43 people, took place on the eve of the Zhuhai Airshow, sponsored by the People’s Liberation Army and held every other year. China often makes extra efforts to tightly control information around major or sensitive events.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, Zhuhai residents laid flowers in honor of the victims outside the Zhuhai People's Fitness Plaza in southern Guangdong province. Police presence was light, though the number of officers later increased. The sports complex was closed until further notice.

Police allowed the public to leave bouquets just outside the entrance of the sports complex but volunteers then quickly moved the flowers inside the sports center.

“May there be no thugs in heaven,” said a message on one of the bouquets. “Good deeds will be rewarded and evil deeds will be punished.”

Chinese authorities are careful what is publicly said around major catastrophes or violence, often censoring eyewitness accounts. It took almost 24 hours following the attack before information with definite casualty tolls was released.